


Dreams

by alharrypotternerd



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, valdangelo - Fandom
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Sharing a Bed, fluffy cuddles, getting together (eventually), valdangelo - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-28
Updated: 2015-08-29
Packaged: 2018-03-15 16:59:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3454847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alharrypotternerd/pseuds/alharrypotternerd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leo helps Nico deal with his nightmares with cuddles. Set during the House of Hades.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Leo woke with a start, his skin clammy and his heart racing. He couldn't remember what his nightmare had been about, but he was relieved to be out of it. 

As he slowly became more aware of his surroundings, he heard a soft sound coming through his cabin's wall: muffled sobs. Nico, he thought. Ever since the boy had come back from Tartarus, it seemed that he'd been plagued by as many nightmares as Leo experienced. This wasn't the first time Leo had heard him having a panic attack through the thin walls of the Argo II. Like on the previous occasions, Leo got out of bed and quietly stepped into the hallway. He softly knocked on Nico's door, being cautious not to wake the others, especially Coach Hedge. He definitely didn't want to deal with the satyr yelling at him for sneaking around right now. "Nico? It's Leo. Can I come in?" he called. 

"Yes," came Nico's shaky reply, and Leo opened the door and walked over to the bed where Nico was sitting up, trying to wipe the tears from his pale cheeks. Without a word, Leo sat on the bed and wrapped his arms around the shaking boy. Nico buried his face in his chest, and Leo gently rubbed his back and stroked his hair until Nico finally pulled back and spoke. "Thank you," he said. "Um, sorry for waking you up."

"It's ok," Leo replied. I was awake anyway-I had a nightmare of my own." Nico nodded, understanding in his eyes. He leaned back into Leo, wrapping his arms around the older boy, now trying to comfort him. They stayed like that for a while, and then Leo spoke again. "You should get some sleep, Nico. You look exhausted."

Nico shook his head. "I don't want to have another nightmare." Leo could hear the fear in voice as Nico murmured the words into his shirt. Leo felt a twinge in his heart-he hated seeing Nico so afraid. "I know," he said, "but you need rest." "So do you," Nico replied. They could both see that they were getting nowhere with this argument, so they were silent. Then Nico felt Leo shiver in the cool night air. "Are you cold," he asked. "A little bit," Leo replied. Nico shifted over, pulling Leo down so that he was laying with his head on the pillow, then covered them both with the blanket. "Better now?" he asked. "Yeah," said Leo.

Nico lay his head on Leo's chest and Leo instinctively wrapped his arms around Nico again. Nico's eyes began to drift shut against his will. He opened them again and looked at Leo. "Thank you for being here," he said again. "I feel... safer when you're here." He hesitated, then continued, flushing slightly. "I-I think I might be able to sleep if you stay here."

Leo gave him a small smile. "Then I'll stay," he said. "Maybe we'll both be able to sleep if we're not alone."  


	2. Chapter 2

When Leo woke up the next morning, Nico's head was still on his chest. He was debating whether or not he should get up and risk waking Nico when the raven-haired boy opened his eyes. "Good morning, sleepyhead," said Leo.

"Morning," Nico replied, his voice still rough with sleep. 

"I guess we were right," said Leo. "About being able to sleep better if we had each other there," he added at Nico's confused look. 

"Oh, yeah, right," said Nico, comprehension dawning. He moved his head slightly and his bangs fell over his eyes. Before Leo realized what he was doing, he reached out a hand and brushed the hair back. He blushed slightly as his fingertips brushed the soft skin on Nico's forehead, and then he realized that getting embarrassed after that small touch was silly, as he was still holding Nico in his arms and the other boy's head was on his shoulder. Nico seemed to realize this too, and his cheeks also turned pink.

"Um, I guess we should get up and get some breakfast," said Nico.

"Yeah," said Leo. Both boys were a bit flustered as they got out of bed. Leo was starting to feel awkward, and he wished that he had his tool belt so that he could have something to do besides stare at Nico. "I guess I'll go to my room and get dressed," he muttered, and he quickly walked out, hoping to escape the sudden tension in the room.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven't posted anything for a while... I promise that I will be updating more often now that school is out.


	3. Chapter 3

Nico watched as Leo rushed out of the room, and he let out a breath as the door clicked shut.

This morning felt so different from the other times that Leo had come in and helped him recover from his nightmares. The other boy had never stayed all that long before; he usually left once the tears dried and his breathing returned to normal. He'd certainly never stayed and slept in his bed before, and Nico didn't know how to feel about the fact that he now had.

If he were being honest with himself, Nico would have to admit that he'd liked having the other boy with him. Leo's warmth and his soft words of comfort had made Nico feel safer than he had in a long time. Unfortunately, Leo had seemed uncomfortable providing these thing in the light of day. Nico just hoped that the tension that had been so thick in the air before Leo left the room wouldn't last long, because he found that he wanted to become closer to Leo, to be his friend, and he didn't want to mess up whatever is was that they had together now.

When Nico came out of his room a few minutes later to get some breakfast, Leo was already sitting at the table with Jason and Piper, and a stack of waffles was in the middle of the table. Leo's eyes met his for a second and then flicked away as he started talking about some new contraption that he was building. Nico tuned out as Piper and Jason joined the conversation, distracted by the memory of Leo rushing away from him this morning. He figured that he should talk to Leo, but he didn't know what to say. Looking up, he saw that Leo was still avoiding his gaze. Was he still embarrassed? Would he even want to talk about it?

Nico saw Piper and Jason get up to leave and realized that this was his chance to get Leo alone to talk. As the other boy made to leave too, Nico stood and gently grabbed his arm to stop him. Leo looked at him and bit his lip as Nico quietly asked "Can we talk?" He nodded, and in an unspoken agreement, they both walked up to the top deck.  
They stopped at the front of the ship, and Leo absentmindedly pulled some things out of his tool belt and tinkered with them, trying to dispel his nerves as he faced Nico. "So about this morning..." He trailed off, unsure of what to say. 

Nico started talking fast. "If you want, we can just forget that it happened and go back to the way it was before. I just don't want things to be awkward between us because I really like you, and you've really helped me with my nightmares." 

Leo nodded. "I don't want it to be awkward either," he agreed. "And... I really like you too," he finished, blushing slightly. 

Nico smiled. "So we're good?" he asked.

"Yeah, we're good," Leo confirmed. 

 

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

The next few weeks passed uneventfully. Leo came into Nico's room and calmed him down after his nightmares several more times, though he never stayed until the morning again. During the day, they didn't interact much more than they had before. Nico still spent most of his time atop the foremast in the lookout position, and Leo was usually working on something in the engine room. During meals, their eyes lingered on each other every now and then; otherwise, they didn't spend much time together or talk.

They were fine with this, mostly. Neither boy wanted to make things awkward between them again, and they seemed unsure of how to interact with each other without doing that. Even so, there were times when both of them felt a little lonely and wished that they had someone to talk to. Nico sometimes talked with Hazel when he felt this way, and though he liked talking to her, he sometimes felt like a third wheel if Frank was with them, and Leo felt the same way when he talked to Jason or Piper.

Jason noticed that Leo seemed a bit down, and he thought that the other boy was spending even more time with his machines than usual. So, one day he caught Leo's arm as they walked away from the table after lunch. "Hey Leo, do you have a minute?" he inquired.

"Sure," Leo replied. Jason led him down the hallway, away from the others, and Leo followed him. When they were alone, he turned back to Leo.

He hesitated for a second, then asked "Are you okay? You've seemed kind of down lately."

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Leo. But he couldn't quite hold Jason's gaze as he spoke.

"I just noticed that you've been spending more time in the engine room than you did before," Jason continued, refusing to be deterred so easily. Leo just shrugged, his eyes pointed towards the floor.

"Well, you know me," he answered carelessly. "I'm better with machines than all you organic life forms. There's less confusion with them."

 _Are you talking about Nico?_ Jason wondered. He'd noticed the lingering glances that the two of them had been sharing, but he didn't know what they meant, if they meant anything at all. Leo's head snapped up, eyes wide, and Jason realized that he must have voiced the question out loud. "What?" Leo asked.

"I saw that you two have sort of been... staring at each other lately, but I haven't seen you guys talk to each other, so I wasn't sure if it was anything important." Leo blushed, and Jason raised an eyebrow. "Wait, is there something going on between you two?"

Leo looked down again. "I don't know," he mumbled. “We’re… friends, I guess. It’s kind of complicated.”

“What do you mean?” Jason queried.

Leo shrugged and ran a hand through his hair, eyes still glued to the floor. “Sometimes he has nightmares and I go into his room and calm him down. But otherwise we don’t really talk. I kinda wish we did, but I’m not sure what we’d talk about. I don’t think we have very much in common.”

"Well, you'll never know that for sure if you don't actually talk. It can't hurt to try," replied Jason. 

Leo still looked reluctant. "It's more than that," he said. Jason tilted his head, and Leo continued, forestalling the question on his lips. "I think I... have feelings for him, but I doubt he feels the same way, and I don't want to accidentally say something about it if he doesn't and scare him off." 

Jason, surprised by his friend's declaration, was silent for a moment as he pondered how he could help Leo with this. He didn't know what else Leo could do in this situation, so he decided to stick by his previous advice. "But what if he does feel the same? You might as well talk to him and try to figure it out."

"Maybe," said Leo. "I'll think about it." 

A while later, back in the engine room, Leo decided that he would take Jason's advice and try to talk to Nico... tomorrow. 

 

 

 


End file.
